Later Spanish Imperial

1609-1658ish
The period saw Spain dragged ever more deeply into the mire of religiously charged wars that blighted Europe. The result was a country forced into ever expanding military efforts across Europe and in the Mediterranean.

By the middle decades of a war- and plague-ridden 17th century Europe the Spanish Habsburgs had enmeshed the country in the continent-wide religious-political conflicts. These conflicts drained it of resources and undermined the European economy generally. Spain managed to hold on to most of the scattered Habsburg empire and help the imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire reverse a large part of the advances made by Protestant forces in the TYW, where its interests aligned with the German states both on religious ground,but also because it held the territories of the Spanish Netherlands in the western part of the Empire and states within Italy which were connected by land through the Spanish Road. The Dutch revolted against the Spanish domination during the 1560s, leading to a protracted war of independence that led to a truce only in 1609.

The Army Of Flanders took part in The Battle of Nordlingen, however disappointingly its name refers to the area it operated in, and does not as some historians believe, mean its general was an ancestor of Homer Simpson's next door neighbour.

Spain eventually suffered some serious military reverses to France in the latter stages of the immensely destructive, Europe-wide Thirty Years War.

Tactics

Elite Infantry are pretty rare, so it's tempting to take that option (The Army of Flanders)

Heavily Armoured Pistol Pistol Horse can also stand up to most things pretty well, and the minima for Average Horse is surprisingly small. They also work as rear support

The army of the Cardinal Infante in 1634 is classed as the Army of Flanders (for the combined list with the Germans)